Critics get a taste of Bruno

Yahoo!7 June 29, 2009, 1:11 pm

The British critics have had their first taste of Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's outrageous follow-up character to his 2007 hit Borat.

The film had its world premiere in London earlier this month, with Baron Cohen parading his new persona all over Leicester Square.

"This is the most important movie starring a gay Austrian since Terminator 2," Bruno told UK's The Guardian.

"I've just seen this movie called Borat. I found it a really offensive portrayal of a foreigner."

The movie centres on Bruno, a European fashionista fired from his fashion show who flees to the US to become "the most famous Austrian since Hitler."

Anticipation for the film is huge, with most of the western world wondering how Baron Cohen could pull off another unknown alter-ego in the US after the runaway success of Borat.

"People now know who Baron Cohen is and how he works," said Steve Rose from The Guardian.

"As a result it looks like they've worked harder to get the material."

The film has a variety of crude, comedic centrepieces which include asking LaToya Jackson to pretend to be her brother Michael, trying to make a sex-tape with 73-year-old right wing Republican Ron Paul, and telling a gayness curing evangelist he has "blowjob lips."

Nick Curtis of the London Evening Standard says although the laughs come thick and fast, Baron Cohen's targets are fairly easy.

"It's no great coup to get a homophobic rise out of redneck hunters, priests who "converts" gays, or protestors waving banners saying 'God hates fags'," said Curtis.

"But it is, undoubtedly, hilariously bold to flirt with the first two groups, and accost the third while shackled to a male slave."

Borat grossed over half a billion dollars worldwide, and Baron Cohen's latest creation is expected to top that.

The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Original Screenplay, even though almost every single character in the film is real and completely unscripted.

Sacha Baron Cohen is engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher, who was last seen in her first major leading role Confessions of a Shopaholic.

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